World Cup on HD - IT ROCKS

As an IT journalist, I have seen many IT hypes come and go. But wathing World Cup right now in HD on my 32 inch loaned Bravia, I can tell you HD is definitely here to stay. People WILL pay premium dollars for HD content. It's really between night and day. It really is as influential as the advent of colour television in the B&W era.

Here, the HD transmission came on at channel 300 at about 11.30, the sound came on at about 11.45. I'm ecstatic

No. 1 on Google Search

I did a check on Google Search under the terms - hdtv hdcp singapore - and this blog comes up first! I tried on my friend's blog - hdcp lcdtv - and his blog ranked first too! That's really encouraging since we both started our blogs like not long ago

Running on HDCP content on component won't degrade quality?

I am reproducing a comment from a reader in response to my post that running HDCP-enabled HD content via analogue component output is likely to downgrade picture quality to DVD only:

HDCP is mainly for the purpose of preventing digital distribution on the Internet. It can be a matters of seconds after telecast. As such when HDCP is enabled and there is no reciprocal handshaking from the display device the digital signals. It should not affect the analogue ouput as there is a barrier to distribution on to the Internet. That is why HD Ready specifications (notably from Europe)has two outputs HDMI and Analogue Component. The picture quality from the Analsogue output is not noticeable.In the case of HDVD the jury is still out there. Some manufacturers degrade the component output some don't. Will have to keep monitoring the situation. Consumers and some industry members do not like degradation of the component output--sort short changing the consumer and will affect sales.

This opinion is consistent with some experts that I spoke with from MediaCorp and MDA. What they are saying is that even if your TV is not HDCP compliant, you can still run the HDCP-enabled HD stream thru the component cables, and you won't get any or significant degradation in picture quality. Then why bother to have HDMI if you can still get the same quality via component? The experts say that this is because it is hard to distribute analog recordings but easy to distribute digital recordings. This is an issue that I will study in greater detail.

Product reviews of HDTVs

Hi, if you are a TV vendor and would like your product featured here, do let me know. I will review all HDTVs that I can come across here complete with pictures. I will endeavour to be brutally honest. I am already on StarHub's HDTV trial and am trying to get on MediaCorp's trial as well.

The only way to really understand the complexities of HDTV is to use it. I hope to share my experiences with everyone.

Hitachi responds on its 1080 HD

Here's the official response from Hitachi. I am reproducing in full in original answer

Following answers to your enquiry:
Hitachi's 42PD8900TA is currently the plasma panel with the highest number of horizontal lines (1080).
This 1080 horizontal lines enables the display of 1080 horizontal lines in HD broadcast (1080i) without pixel alteration.
The result is the world's highest definition for a 42-inch Plasma TV, enabling the reproduction of detailed images.

To enjoy full spec of HD, the panel should have a resolution of 1920 x 1080 for the 16:9 screen aspect ratio.
For Hitachi's 42PD8900TA with resolution of 1024 x 1080, the vertical lines is actually slightly scaled to get the 16:9 aspect ratio.
But, for other XGA plasma with resolution of 1024 x768 or XGA LCD with resolution of 1366x768, these products need to do both horizontal & vertical scaling to display 1080i HD signal.

Hitachi's 42 1080HD Plasma - Don't buy first

I have been seeing the ad campaign by Hitachi on its new 42 inch plasma which it calls the world's first 1080HD Plasma TV (model number 42PD8900TA). I am very very concerned. My recommendation is not to buy this until there is more research has been done about this product. Why?

Because the resolution is 1,024 x 1080. The number 1080i or 1080p refers to the second number in the resolution description. Now, normally, with a 16:9 aspect ration, the correct resolution should be 1,920 x 1,080 and this is what you find in high end LCD TVs. 1,024 x 1,080 is weired because it seems that although there are enough pixels to cover the width of the TV, there aren't enouhg to cover the length. This could mean that the picture quality will be downscaled with likely degradation by almost 2 times. (1920 vs 1024). My other concern is that 1,024 x 1,080 is like a 1:1 aspect ratio which does not fit the 16:9 ratio that content are created for. This can only mean more rescaling.

I reserve my verdict since I have not tested the screen, but I am very concerned right now. Here's the brochure.

World Cup on HDTV

I just got my confirmation call from StarHub today for the HDTV trials. I am so happy. Here are some interesting tidbits I got from that call:

(1) You have to pay for the additional $30 installation of set-top box, even if you, like me, are pretty confident of doing it yourself

(2) There will probably be Discovery channel in HD after the World Cup

(3) There will be a software upgrade after the World Cup. Wondering if this has anything to do with triggering HDCP.....

Safest bet for now - getting a HD-Ready TV

If you are going to buy a HDTV now, your best bet is to get one with the "HD-Ready" logo. This logo looks like this http://www.eicta.org/press.asp?level2=24&level1=6&level0=1&year=2005&docid=398

The exact requirements for Tvs to get the HD-Ready Mark is as follows:

1. Display, display engine
· The minimum native resolution of the display or display engine is 720
physical lines in wide aspect ratio.

2. Video Interfaces
· The display device accepts HD input via:
o Analogue YPbPr1, and
o DVI or HDMI
· HD capable inputs accept the following HD video formats:
o 1280x720 @ 50 and 60Hz progressive (“720p”), and
o 1920x1080 @ 50 and 60Hz interlaced (“1080i”)
· The DVI or HDMI input supports content protection (HDCP)

http://www.eicta.org/files/LicenseAgreement-153205A.pdf page 11

Now, what it means is that when you buy a LCD or plasma Tv with this logo, all of the basic requirements to get HD content is met. (at least in theory). It's a little more complicated actually, but we''ll leave it as that for now.

Can your sexy $4,000 LCD/plasma TV get HD content?

Ok, so you just went on a water-only diet and walk-only policy to save enough dough to get that slim, sexy $4,000 LCD or plasma TV. You probably got it because (1) you want to invite your sexy date to your home and need a better reason than coffee, tea or me (2) your existing CRT TV looks like your grandmother and you want your TV to look like Eva Longoria or Cameron Diaz. Most probably, you didn't get it because you wanted to watch HD TV.

But if you did, or you now want your four grand to be future-proof, you are probably asking yourself now - can I get HD content to qualify for the trial (although this qn is a little too late since they have probably closed entries for the trial). More importantly, can you get HD content, if and when, StarHub and MediaCorp, roll out their commercial HD services.

The answer, unfortunately is not so simple. In fact, there is no clear answer. Which is the reason why I started this blog dedicated to HDTV in Singapore.

What the heck is HD video anyway?
It's basically your next-generation video format. You know VCD and DVD? HD is basically even better than DVD quality. How much better? It's hard to describe. You need to see it to appreciate it. But compared to your standard- definition TV signals right now, the gap is even further. So a HDTV is a Tv can display HD content. Unfortunately, it doesn't end there.

To be able to watch HD content on your TV, four criteria must be met - the content must be created in HD format, the broadcast must be transmitted in the same HD quality, your must have a HD set-top box and your TV must be able to receive the HD signals.

To be almost guaranteed of getting high-quality HD content on your TV, you basically need to fulfill three requirements: (1) your TV has the minium HD resolution (2) your TV has a HDMI, DVI or component video port to connect to the set-top box (3) your TV is HDCP compliant. I will explain each of these in detail

Minimum resolution of 720p
Basically, to receive HD content on your TV, you need a TV that can AT LEAST support what is called 720p. This is the minimum resolution, there is also 1080i and 1080p. These numbers refer to the number of vertical lines that your TV can support. If you are familiar with PC monitor's screen resolution, it is the same as your 640x480, or your 1024 x 768. Unlike your analog Tv or your traditional PCs which display pictures in the 4:3 aspect ratio, HDTV displays images in wide-screen format or 16:9 aspect ration. That means either 1280 x 720 (720p) or 1,920 x 1,080 (1080i and 1080p)

Now, for the mainstream LCD TVs today, the resolution is 1336 x 768, which means it can support 1280 x 720, and therefore it passes the first critera (Comment: It would make sense to make LCD TVs at 1280 x 720 to be in sync with the signal, I have no idea why its at a higher resolution. However, since the TV resolution is higher than the signal (both the horizontal and vertical pixels) you should not see any degradation in video quality as the Tv adjusts to fit the signal on its screen.)

Downgrading in quality of your HD content, even if you have a "HD TV"
Plus why you need to know about HDCP
The second criteria is for you to have HDMI, DVI or a Component Video port. These are the holes in your Tv where you connect cables to your set-top boxes and HD DVD players in the future. This is where it gets complicated. Both HDMI and DVI are digital connectors while Component is analogue.

Now, the Hollywoods and other content producers are terrified of something called piracy. They are afraid that without any content protection, HD content will be distributed freely and illegally over the Interent. So they want to stop that by putting what is called High Definition Content Protection (HDCP) into their content to stop these intellectual property thefts. Ti make these work however, the Hollywoods need the support of the equipment makers, i.e. the set-top boxes and TVs. For the device makers, they will obviously want to have as little content protection as possible, because they don't really care whether piracy exists (unless you are like Sony which also makes movies) as long as their devices sell. Heck, the more piracy, the more people will buy devices in fact.

So there is a war going on. What is happening now is that the content producers are already creating content with HDCP built-in, but they have yet to be able to force the broadcasters to turn-on HDCP in their set-top boxes. However, if Hollywood wins, then your HDTV which is not HDCP compliant will, in all likelihood, not be able to get the HD video in its full glory. Therefore, the third criteria is that your HDTV must be HDCP compliant.

Since the Hollywoods can only control the newer digital interfaces (HDMI and DVI), HDCP only applies to these connectors. When your non-HDCP TV gets a HDCP activated stream, chances are you won't be able to get the stream, you will have to connect via your analogue Component video cables.

The million dollar questions is - when this happens, will your HD content be downgraded to 480p which is normal DVD quality?

This is an e-mail which a friend of mine who is a StarHub trialist received with regards to his query on this matter:

With regard to your enquiry, we would like to inform you that ourset-top box
is HDMI/HDCP and it should be fully comply to TV with HDMI or DVI/HDCP. At
present, the HDCP is not triggered till there's a need, so most ofthe TV will
not be affected. However, if it comes to a time that thisis triggered, then
those TV's without HDMI/HDCP should see the warning message below. Also, the
viewer still can switch over tocomponent or composite output for viewing, as
they are analogtransmission to the HDTV.HDCP

WarningThis material is copyrighted and your display is
unable to handle its protection properly. Therefore,you will not be able to
watch the program usingHDMI. To watch this material, please use analternative
type of video output connection fromyour set-top box, e.g. YPbPr (Comment: YPbPr means component video)

What this means is that for StarHub's HDTV trials, the stream is already with HDCP, but StarHub don't need to trigger HDCP for now. But later, if it should (due to content makers push), those without HDCP will have to stream via component, which could lead to quality degradation.

I raised this issue at the press conference today and spoke with experts who indicated that there will be little degradation at all even when used over component video. This is correct, if HDCP is not triggered, but I doubt it is accurate if HDCP gets triggered. StarHub and MediaCorp should take this trial period to test out this issue.

Singapore kicks off World Cup in high-definition TV

Today, broadcasters StarHub and MediaCorp officially announced, together with the Media Development Authority, that HDTV trials will start in June. Singapore is the first country in South-east Asia to have HDTV trials.

StarHub launches World Cup in HD
StarHub, the sole cable provider here, will kick off, quite literally, with broadcasts of the World Cup, from 10 June to 10 July. The trial, which will have 1,000 participants, will run from 10 June to the end of the year. During the World Cup period, all 64 live World Cup matches will be available to the trialists on 2 new HDTV cable channels - 300 and 301. 56 of the matches will be on the main channel 300 with the remaining 8 simulcast on both channels. After the World Cup season, StarHub will screen documentaries and entertainment programmes on either 1 or 2 of the channels. At today's press conference StarHub showed HD programmes from National Geographic, but StarHub said this is not any indication whatsoever that the trialists will get National Geographic in HD.

(Comment: I think the 1,000 households should start stocking up on Coke and Heiniken and start charging visitors to their homes. Who wants to go the pubs when you can't watch World Cup in HD format?)

The Two Towers in HD??
MediaCorp will launch its HDTV trial on 18 June with The Lord of The Rings: Two Towers (Comment: are you kidding me??? who wants to watch a 3-year-old movie??) over its new Channel 38. During its 6-month trial, also covering 1,000 households, plus 10 community clubs and retail outlets, there will be an average of 14 hours of HD content per week between 7pm to 11pm. These will also include simulcats of Channel 5 programmes which will be "upconverted" to HD format.

The grapevine has it that MediaCorp will do a separate announcement nearer to its launch date to provide more details about its programmes.

Not a trialist? You may still be able to get the HD streams
Both StarHub and MediaCorp are streaming in MPEG4 format. Our DVDs today are recorded in MPEG2. Basically, the compression technology is more efficeint in MPEG4, which means for the same video quality, MPEG4 files are smaller. This is obviously important for broadcasters because it means they need less bandwidth to stream the video.

If you are not on the StarHub trial list, there's no alternative solution for you. But, you may be able to get MediaCorp HD even if you are not the lucky 1,000 Because MediaCorp is streaming via DVB-T (which means they are sending signals over the air) you may also be able get the broadcast on your PC, even if you are not the 1,000 trialists who are getting a set-top box. You need to get a DVB-T USB adapter that can support MPEG4 which you simply plug into your PC to get the signals. You don't have to be a trialist because you don't need the set-top box from MediaCorp. This should work in theory.

Unfortunately, because most of the set-top boxes and external TV tuner cards (for PCs) are in MPEG 2 format, there is less choice of equipment (set-top boxes for broadcasters, PC adapters for consumers). I'm still looking around for the PC adapters to test MediaCorp's HDTV trial. (Comment: Happauge may have one that works)

Here are the links to the trials:

www.starhub.com/hdtvtrial & http://www.corporate.mediacorp.sg/technologies/hdtv/